The present invention relates to milker unit detachers for use in dairy harvesting facilities, and in particular to a milker unit support arm device that resists accidental damage from dairy animals.
In dairy harvesting facilities, milker units are attached to dairy animals to automatically milk the animals. Milk is collected in the milker units and fed through milk tubes that are connected to a central dairy pipeline system. At the end of a milking operation on each animal, the milker units are detached and moved away from the dairy animal using a milker unit detacher.
In some dairy harvesting facilities such as rotary milking parlors, milking stalls are confined spaces that require the milker unit to be withdrawn from under an animal and moved to a storage position that enables animals to enter and egress its milking stall without damaging the milker units and the milker unit detachers. To do this, the milker unit is supported by a movable detacher support arm that swings and/or pivots from a milking position to a storage position.
Despite operation and movement of the support arm, dairy animals often come into contact with the support arm during entry to and egress from the milking stall, and during a milking operation. Such contact can damage the milker unit support arm, interfere with dairy operations, and require time consuming and expensive maintenance.
To minimize damage to milker unit detachers, spring-loaded assemblies have been used to accommodate a limited amount of impact or force from dairy animals. Known spring loaded detachers accommodate movement in one direction. While useful, these prior spring assemblies did not accommodate support arm movement in all directions, and were relatively difficult to reset.
Thus, there is needed a milker unit detacher with a support arm that supports and moves a milker unit from a milking position to a storage position and is resistant to damage from dairy animals.